There is just something about that beautiful quote that always gives me goosebumps. It is so true. Motherhood, is the most beautiful gift. Motherhood truly changes us, for the better. As hard as it can be at times, and how we sometimes long for the days before babies, watching our child learn a new skill or hearing them laugh, or snuggling them with them on the couch, there is nothing our "old life" that can quite compare.

Motherhood is full of joy, sacrifice, and unimaginable love.

Motherhood is beautiful.

As a motherhood photographer, I am blessed to capture these tender moments between a mother and her child. Moments that define their relationship and unbreakable bond. Often, motherhood sessions bring tears to my eyes because they are just so beautiful. This particular session was one of those sessions.

Every time I look at these gorgeous images of this beautiful mama and her 2 sons, I get goosebumps. The way she looks at her babies with so much adoration and love, and they way they look back up at her melts my heart.

As a mother of 2 young boys myself, I know that the days are often filled with mess and noise, and a whole lot of rough-housing. Those moments that only a boy mom embraces, because we know that one day our home will be clean and quiet and we will miss all that noise, and mess, and chaos.

But even the rowdiest of boys, simply melt in their mama's embrace. Boys love their mamas, and mother's love their sons more than they will ever know.

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Fairfax, Reston, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

The toddler stage can be tough for us mamas. They can bring you to the brink of exhaustion and frustration, and just when you think you have hit your limit, they give you the biggest bear hugs and whisper “you’re the greatest mommy in the whole world”. And just like that, your heart explodes with love. Babies love their mamas so.

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Fairfax, Reston, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

You spend 9 months in complete excitement about your new adventure and not knowing what to expect. And that the day arrives, when you hold your first child in your arms for the very first time, and you just know, your world will never be the same.

Your life has a new purpose, in a way that you didn't know existed before. Because, it didn't. You love more than you have ever loved before. You look at your partner, with such absolute appreciation and gratitude for giving you this perfect gift. You begin to have a whole new appreciation for your own parents, and all the sacrifices they made for you, that you didn't even know about or too young to realize.

You look at the world so much differently. Perhaps it's a bit scarier because you become so incredibly aware of every danger surrounding you. Perhaps it's a bit brighter and a happier place to be. You suddenly seem so connected to every mother that has ever existed.

And you never knew until this moment, that your heart could live outside of your own body.

There is so much beauty in motherhood (and fatherhood) and welcoming your first child into the world. It is a moment that has changed you, from this point on, you will never be the same again. And there is nothing else like this in the world.

I had the honor to photograph this brand new family of three. This gorgeous newborn portrait session was one of my favorites. It is impossible to look at these portraits, and not feel the love they have for each other. Not only for their brand new baby boy, but for each other.

Welcome to the world, Grant. You are one lucky little boy to have parents who love you so much.

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Fairfax, Reston, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

Well, I am way over due for a blog post. Between moving and no internet and then endless amounts of sickness with my own little ones, this poor blog has been sadly neglected. But that changes now.

I don't know about you, but I am tired of winter. Although it hasn't been particularly snowy here in Northern Virginia, it has been nasty cold and windy. And I, for one, am ready for the warmer months to come to stay.

My daydreaming of warmer temperatures reminded me of this magical motherhood session last summer. It was one of those perfect nights, the sun was warm and the sky was orange. The nights where you want to just stay outside and catch fireflies and listen to the peepers. Nights when you want to dance around to music barefoot in the grass. You know, one of those perfect summer nights that you dream about all winter long.

This particular night, was one of those perfect nights. And there was certainly a lot of dancing barefoot in the grass for Miss Amelia, just dancing to her own tune.

I love that Meghann approached me to photograph just her and her daughters. This beautiful age her girls are in, full of joy and wonder.

Here are some of my favorites from Meghann's Motherhood Sunset Session:

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Fairfax, Reston, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

There are times when I am at a session, and I can just feel the magic in the air. This was one of those sessions.

There is a sense of magic when you are expecting your first child. Everything is so new and so exciting, and you just can not wait to meet him. The long 9 months is coming to end. Soon you will hold this beautiful boy in your arms and you will lovingly be welcomed into the wild ride of parenthood. It is exciting, it is scary, it is magical!

Hands-down, this is one of my favorite portrait sessions of all time. The love this gorgeous couple has for each other and for their little one on the way, is breathtaking. Their love is radiating through each image.

Mother Nature must have known that we were capturing something very special at this session too, because she put on her own show this evening.

The best sunset, beautiful parents-to-be, and so much love, there was something truly magical about this maternity session.

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Winchester, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

Sometimes, I look at a new mother in total adoration. This was the case with this beautiful mama.

Welcoming a new baby is no easy fete, especially when you already have toddlers running around. But welcoming a new baby when you have 20 month old twins, and doing it all with patience and grace, is nothing short of amazing.

This mother radiates love and joy for her beautiful new family of 5.

This father is completely enamored for his house full of girls.

Sweet Hattie, you were meant to be in this family surrounded by so much love.

What a lucky girl you are.

Mom's clothing borrowed from studio wardrobe

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Winchester, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

It is an outstanding resource for moms who want to learn how to better capture beautiful images of their own families! It is filled with weekly photography lessons and tons of inspiration!

Shoot Along was established by award-winning photographers, Amy Tripple and Heidi Peters. These talented ladies created Shoot Along to "give themselves structure and accountability to capture their own families and decided it would be a great concept to share with other parents".

Each week, they feature a photographer they admire in their weekly newsletter. Recently, they had asked me to be one of their featured photographers, and I could not have been more honored!

What they asked of me was to photograph portraits of my own children and give a few thoughts about what I did to make the shot happen.

Above, is the image that I sent in. I recently took this portrait of my oldest and my youngest, and it is currently one of my favorite images of them. I believe it truly exemplifies their special relationship. And as a mama, I hope they always remain close friends and allies. Because my oldest son loves his baby sister so much and she simply adores him and everything he does.

Photographing your only children, can be difficult and frustrating at times. But it is so important to take the time to capture these fleeting moments. Because they only get one childhood, and we will never get this time back with our babies.

This project that the ladies over at Shoot Along are doing is great, and I highly recommend checking it out!

Here is a snippet of their feature of Quiet Side Photography:

ShootAlong: How do you make documenting your family through photography a priority?

Kate: It's no secret that time seems to pass at warp speed once you have children. I feel like my oldest son was just born, and now I am getting ready to send him to kindergarten in a few weeks. It is so important to document as much you can, because they are only this little for such a short amount of time. A photograph can take you back to that moment with them. It is easy, as a mom, to get lost in the day to day with diaper changes, toys everywhere, and never ending laundry. But when we step back there is so much beauty with life with small children. I will admit, having an actual photo session with my children can be challenging. But I do try to take them for actual sessions with me every few months to document who they are at that moment. It's the only way I can freeze this time with them so I can always revisit it.

ShootAlong: Tell us about the image you've shared? What makes it special to you? What did you do to make it happen?

Kate: My style of photography is very simple. I do not do overly posed, everyone look at the camera and smile, type of images. I much prefer images where the love and connection of a family comes shining through, whether it be with a fit of laughter or a quiet, gentle moment. This image just pulls at my heartstrings. It is of my oldest and my youngest, when my sweet girl was just beginning to take her first steps. It is amazing to see how my son loves to help her achieve this new milestone. She often crawls up to him, climbs up his leg and they go for walks around the house together holding hands. I wanted to document this special bond they had together.

As I knew that this would come naturally, I directed my son to go over near my daughter and talk to her. As he did, she crawled over to him, climbed up his leg and they went for one of their strolls. I knew, if it was forced, it wouldn't have been authentic, and would probably result in my daughter not wanting to hold hands and quite possibly end in tears. And that's not what I wanted to capture. Instead, I set up the situation and waited until the moment happened naturally.

I love that I was able to capture this special moment between siblings. They have such a special bond and adore each other. This moment of my daughter learning to walk is fleeting, I'll never get this time back. Not only does this image document this huge milestone in her life, but it captures the beautiful and unique bond they have for each other, as siblings.

Thank you so much, for the feature, Shoot Along. It truly is an honor!!!

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Winchester, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Winchester, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

I was so fortunate to photographer her again, this time with her beautiful family and her newest little love in their home.

Although I do not typically photograph in-home newborn sessions, there is something I love about them. Add that to the timelessness of a black and white portrait, the love and connection between mother and child, and this session makes my heart sing.

Welcome home, sweet Zachary.

You have completed this family so beautifully.

Clothing borrowed from studio wardrobe

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Winchester, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

As I sit here, one week before kindergarten approaches for my first born, I can't help but be a little sad.

I keep catching myself staring at him, wondering when did he get so big. As my facebook memories floods me with images of him when he was so little, and yet, it feels like yesterday.

I'm finding myself savoring each moment left of our summer vacation, of our time left before this new adventure begins.

I have been so grateful to have the last five years with him, and though sometimes it felt like it was so long, it went by so quickly. And now, he's about to take his first steps towards independence.

I want to return for a moment those days of holding that sweet ball of chunk. Even the long days filled with a crying colicky baby as we listen to the Mary Poppins soundtrack because only the singing of Julie Andrews could calm him down (and a bit of Plumb too). I want to return to the nights when the house was quiet and we rocked together in the nursery.

I loved watching every minute of him growing and learning and becoming a friend and the best big brother. But I'm feeling a little nostalgic of those moments when it was just me and him. Because in one week, he will be gone for so much of the day. And I have to share him. And I will miss him terribly.

I'm so excited for him. This is such a huge milestone in his life. So I try to hide my tears. They are happy tears, they are. Mixed with some sad tears.

I know I'm not the only Mama who feels this way.

I guess this the essence of motherhood.

So excited for them to grow but wishing they would stay little forever.

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Winchester, and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.

If there was one word to describe this newborn session, it would be LOVE.

There was no shortage of love in this family, as you can tell, it radiates from each image.

This little girl is so blessed. My heart melts everytime I see how her parents look at her.

This father was telling me that his whole life he wanted to have a little girl, so he could name her June. And then he can call her his "Little June Bug". Well, Dad, you got your wish. I'm sure that he and his June Bug will always have a special bond that no one can break.

What a special gift these portraits are for sweet Baby June. She will always get to see how fiercely she was loved, right from the start. No one will ever love her the way these two do.

Dress borrowed from the studio wardrobe

Quiet Side Photography specializes in simple, organic and timeless maternity, newborn, family and child portraiture in Loudoun County and throughout Northern Virginia. Including the cities of Purcellville, Round Hill, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Berryville, Aldie, Winchester, Fairfax County and Washington DC.

I would love to create a custom portrait experience for you and your family. Contact me to begin planning your session.